Op-ed: 
It's Still All About the Economy and Jobs
By: Diane Sori

As our national debt officially crossed the 18 trillion dollar mark a week or so ago, another sad reality has become fact for as 2014 ends our beloved America has now and possibly forever lost its claim as the world’s largest economic super power. China will enter center stage in 2015 as number one and will likely remain number one for a very, very, long time...if NOT forever.

Another sad reminder of an administration run amok.

And all this happened while we've been media 'spoon-fed,' amongst other things, a fabricated 'for profit' race war scenario initiated by the likes of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and crew...'spoon-fed' to keep us from focusing on a situation that could have serious economic ramifications for generations to come as it directly affects the still dismal job numbers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, we are losing half a million jobs to China every year, hence we do NOT produce as much as we used to because the workforce to do so is simply NOT there. And this wake-up call to kick-start our economy was indeed sounded in time to reverse this downward trend but was ignored by the man occupying the White House, showing once again his true intention to economically implode America from within. And this dropping to number two is especially troublesome at this point in time...at a time when the world is as volatile a place as it is...because history has proven time and again that political and military power has always depended upon and been tied into a country's economic strength and political stability.

And right now thanks to Obama's failed politics and policies we have neither the economic strength nor the political stability to hold that coveted top economic position. And know that Obama knew back in 2011 that China's economy was already 87% of ours...and yet he did NOTHING to move our economic recovery forward beyond that of a mere crawl. And that was in addition to the Democrats wanting to raise our already highest corporate tax rate of any nation.

And that is one first place position that NO nation wants to be in if it's serious in wanting companies to do or emanate business from within their country.

So as I said NOTHING of substance has been done as our national debt increased to reach an absolutely mind-boggling $18 trillion and counting (and NEVER forget that during Obama's first term the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined). And lest we forget that in 2011...for the first time since 1941...we lost our top-tier AAA-credit rating (which raised borrowing costs for the U.S. government, companies, and consumers) under this man's lack of stewardship (S&P had called for $4 trillion in fiscal savings as an acceptable 'down payment' for fixing America's finances and retain our AAA rating while Obama offered to reduce the deficit by only $2.1 trillion over 10 years), in addition to the fact that the U.S. has fallen in the all-important global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.

And now as if rubbing salt into an open wound, last week The International Monetary Fund released the newest numbers for the world economy and we...the greatest nation the world has ever known...did indeed officially drop to number two. And while just a decade ago the U.S. produced nearly three times as many goods and services as China, now its China...communist China...who last year had already surpassed us in terms of global trade...who now surpasses us in actual producing power...producing power to the tune of China garnering $17.6 trillion this year as opposed to $17.4 trillion for the U.S.

And this figure translates into China accounting for 16.5% of the global economy when measured in 'real purchasing-power' (the number of goods or services that can be purchased with a unit of currency), as opposed to our 16.3% of 'real purchasing power'. And China accomplished this by bringing their gross domestic product calculations in line with international standards as Obama looked away, ignoring the warnings of his economic advisers that this could indeed happen. In fact, at the beginning of this year before it became reality, the World Bank’s International Comparison Program came out with new numbers of their own showing that China would become the world’s largest economy much sooner than the 2019 date that was originally projected...much sooner thanks to the Obama stagnating U.S. economic recovery with its declining buying power combined with the fact that the U.S. does NOT produce as much as it once did.

And sadly, that sooner has indeed come to pass as our economy...the world's largest since 1872 when it overtook the economy of Great Britain...slips to number two. But like the old TV commercials where Avis tries harder and overtakes Hertz in the car rental business, try as we might it will most likely now be impossible to overtake China's ever-growing, ever expanding economy coupled with its industrial growth.

By using calculations to come up with estimates based on the economic measure known as 'purchasing-power parity' (PPP)...the real way of comparing economies as it's a system which measures and compares actual monetary output as opposed to fluctuations in international exchange rates of chosen countries...and when you add in the much cheaper cost of living in China...figures show that China did indeed bound ahead of our once and always thought would be number one economy.

And guess who's number three and moving ever closer to the U.S entering 2015 according to the World Bank rankings...India...as our neighbor to the north...once in the top tier Canada...moves down to 15th place. Canada used to have a top-10 economy, thus securing membership in the G7, but a number of developing countries have moved ahead of them in recent years, including Brazil (#8), South Korea (#12), Japan (#4), and the afore mentioned India NOT to mention Vladimir Putin's Russia (#6) as well.

The Russian Bear and Russia itself might indeed get the last laugh both as a super-power and as an economic force to reckoned with as long as Obama is the president of the U.S.

But the question that must be answered knowing all the numbers and facts stated is can we...the United States of America...ever regain our position as the world's top economy. I believe it will be hard...very hard...but that we can do it if a number of things are done. First, taxes must be lowered...as in initiating flat-rate taxes...which in turn will promote positive economic growth and allow for jobs to be created. Then, the federal government must show major restraint in spending and start to pay down our current out-of-control debt, followed with accruing treasure to back our dollar so that it remains strong. Lastly, free trade must be encouraged with the current regulations placed on companies...both foreign and domestic...being pared down and held to a bare minimum because many revenue generating job creating companies...both large and small...are being over regulated right out of business.

And lest we forget the most important factor in gaining back our number one economic status...Barack HUSSEIN Obama must be led out of the White House in handcuffs... need I say more. 
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Today, Wednesday, December 10th, on RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS from 2 to 4pm EST on CPR Worldwide Media, Craig and Diane will discuss the release of the CIA report just to make the 'alphabets' happy, the USA becoming the world's #2 economy, and Jonathan Gruber testifying before the House Committee on ObamaCare.

Hope you can join us...http://cprworldwidemedia.com/live-radio/
and chat with live shows at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cprworldwidemedia/

Op-ed:  
"Drill Baby Drill"...or should I say "Build Baby Build"
By: Diane Sori   
 
"You stand on the brink of making a choice that will define your legacy on one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced -- climate change..." - Former President Jimmy Carter

Well leave it to the second worst president in U.S. history to suck up to the worst president in U.S. history as last week Jimmy Carter, together with a group of nine Nobel Peace Laureates... including South Africa’s Desmond Tutu...sent a single letter through the Nobel Women's Initiative to both Obama and John 'Swiftboat' Kerry urging them to reject the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline... TransCanada’s long-delayed $5.5-billion project...on the grounds that it would add to climate change concerns and other environmental issues.

But the truth is that the pipeline would NOT negatively affect anything...for it would NOT contribute to greenhouse gasses nor would it contribute to global warning simply because there is NO such thing. (So-called global warming and global cooling are naturally occurring weather cycles that have occurred since the Earth began and will continue until the Earth is NO more.)

With the exporting of crude oil from tar sands in Canada to refineries here in America, Sarah Palin's much ballyhooed slogan "Drill Baby Drill" should be the rallying cry for building the Keystone Pipeline. The U.S. span of 1,179 miles alone would create tens of thousands of jobs and that does NOT include all the jobs created by the much needed adjunct industries. And the benefits to having access to oil from Canada... our friendly neighbor to the north...would help cut down our dependency on foreign oil...on Arab oil.

But that is obviously NOT what Obama wants for he is in the pocket of and bows down to the wishes of his muslim brethren...and their wish is for American dollars and having a choke-hold on America's energy needs.

Stonewalling a decision on the pipeline for years now, Obama is also placating and playing to the powerful leftist environmentalist groups that have turned the pipeline into a test of Obama's credibility on (non-existent) climate change. After Obama's saying that he would deal with the “threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” during his January State of the Union Address, these groups have positioned themselves and their wallets to make sure Obama does NOT renege on his words...to make sure the scientific truth about the LIE of climate change is kept hidden from the public.

But the truth is that the building or NOT building of the pipeline has already been decided by politics and politics alone. Obama claims that he and the State Department (which has to be involved because the pipeline crosses an international border thus needing a presidential permit and a State Department review) are delaying the pipeline permits because of a Nebraska state court case that could affect the route of the pipeline...a case that may NOT be decided until next year...a case citing that the pipeline would cut through the ecologically sensitive Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer, the main drinking water source for the Great Plains. But the truth is Obama has again LIED to the American people, because in February he said the court's decision either way would NOT influence his final decision but come March he did his usual about face and is holding up the pipeline because of that very case...and of course about fear of losing the environmental lobbyists monies.

So it boils down to the fact that Obama himself is trying to delay the decision until after the November mid-terms to get himself and Democratic candidates off a politically dangerous precipice what with at least a half-dozen Democrat senators most likely to lose their Senate seats...so it's best to keep this hot-button issue off the table. And while Democratic incumbents from oil-rich states have quietly urged Obama to approve the pipeline, they realize that in Obama's approving the pipeline before the election it could stop the flow of money from liberal donors and fund-raisers who oppose the pipeline.

And so Obama has virtually stopped a project so wanted by 'We the People'...a project that would create tens of thousands of jobs and take thousands off the government welfare rolls. But wait...if the pipeline is built and Americans are put back to work, they would come off Obama's welfare rolls causing him to most likely lose their votes. This is the real reason why Obama does NOT want this pipeline built...it was and is all about votes...votes and control.

And what of the environmentalists who pull Obama's strings and pad his wallet... well they love to say that the oil harvested from this Hardisty, Alberta originating line is 'dirty' oil NOT understanding that all oil is 'dirty' before it's refined. And as for the environment itself, the pipeline would actually help wildlife survive the harsh northern winters because the animals would be able to gather around the heat given off by the pipe. The more that could survive the winter because of this, the more that would survive to be able to breed in the spring and thus increase the endangered populations.

And while the environmentalists also claim they fear massive leaks and breaches in the line, this too is without merit for there is NO need to fear environment damaging leaks because the pipeline will be built in sections, and if something happens to a specific section, that section would then be shut down, thus having minimal affect on the surrounding environment.

And something most do NOT realize is the fact that even if Obama does NOT sign off on the pipeline the oil sands crude will still be extracted and brought to market by other means, like by rail, and then processed and burned. And what a waste that would be for the hoped for jobs that would put Americans back to work would NEVER come, and the monies made by the Canadian side of the pipeline would NEVER have a chance of reaching American hands...would NEVER help the still stalled American economy recover

Delaying the pipeline means "the United States will continue to rely on suspect and aggressive foreign leaders for the eight to nine million barrels of oil that is imported every day," said TransCanada Corporate chief executive Russ Girling when he heard of Obama's again stalling a decision on the pipeline.

But when you have a vehemently anti-American president at the helm who's being egged on by a babbling senile has-been like Jimmy Carter what else would you expect.

Op-ed: 
An end-of-year press conference full of deflections and lies...par for the course 
(golf pun intended)
By: Diane Sori 

"The basic structure of that law is working, despite all the problems — despite the website problems, the messaging problems, all that." - Barack HUSSEIN Obama 12/20/13

And so I watched yesterday's Obama press conference remembering that throughout this year Obama has tried to shift blame for all his screw-ups away from his narcissistic self by passing any and all questions that needed answering off onto his joke of a mouthpiece, Jay Carney. Questions about ObamaCare's many failures...questions about the NSA spying on American citizens...questions about his response...or lack thereof...to his self-instigated 'he built it he owns it' Middle East disasters...questions about Benghazi and Extortion 17...have all been basically ignored or worse...LIED about.

And in this, Obama's last press conference of the year before he jets off to Hawaii for a two-week holiday...on our taxpayer dime of course...Obama now suddenly has decided to answer those questions himself but of course NOT with the truth...but with answers filled with more round-about bloviations that were lacking in facts but strong in additional subterfuge.

Strutting to the podium and leading off by trying to make us believe that all is getting better economically, Obama said that 2014 "can be a breakthrough year for America after a long era of recession and slow recovery." Hey Obama, tell that to the millions of Americans still out of work...the millions who want to work that is...NOT your gimme-gimme you owe me 'sponges.' And of course tell that to the millions of Americans left in health insurance limbo...many still without health insurance...many still walking around in total shock after seeing just how unaffordable the Affordable Care Act really is...especially unaffordable when they are out of work.

In his remarks defending ObamaCare, Obama said with a straight face, “The health care website problems were a source of great frustration...On the other hand, since that time I now have a couple million people who are going to have health care on January 1. And that is a big deal. That is why I ran for that office.”

NO...again more lies for Barack HUSSEIN Obama ran for office for one reason and one reason alone...to bring about the downfall of our beloved American republic... period. And adding that the early problems with the Obamacare website "have largely subsided and that the chaos sown by the structural reform of the insurance industry will soon be smoothed over"....Obama is once again trying to place the blame for its failures on the insurance companies and off of his miserable self.

And continuing doing what he does best, Obama out-and-out LIED by claiming that more than one million Americans have signed up for health insurance on the exchanges over the past three weeks. Absolutely NOT true in any sense of the word for even if one million people logged onto Healthcare.gov just to take a look-see...one million Americans did NOT do finalized sign ups nor did they make the much needed first payments for policies 'supposedly' purchased. And the great majority who did sign-up signed up for Medicaid...thus getting a free ride that we taxpayers will have to finance with our hard earned tax dollars...yet again.

And now add in that as he's done before Barack HUSSEIN Obama has unilaterally changed the ObamaCare law as passed by Congress. After seeing that the majority of people whose insurance policies were cancelled...cancelled because of his lying about being able to keep their health care plans and because of the law's stringent and ridiculous regulations...could now simply NOT afford the new ObamaCare compliant policies offered on the exchanges and so would NOT sign up on them, Obama announced that he would 'allow' Americans to purchase 'bare-bones' policies...as in catastrophic insurance but at a higher deductible...actually at a much higher deductible than they were previously paying...and that they can now get a 'hardship exemption' from what Obama is trying to pass off as just another little glitch in the continuing ObamaCare 'work in progress'

With this move, this most miserable of presidents is NOT just overstepping his executive bounds, but also, as in the past, is in violation of our Constitution as he once again is initiating changes into a law of the land of his own volition without Congressional approval. And as an added bonus he is creating millions of new 'hardship cases' that were NEVER 'hardship cases' before his abomination of a law was passed...passed before those in Congress even bothered to read it.

Visibly nervous as he claimed that any of the problems currently popping up “don’t go to the core” of the health care reform program, Obama still does NOT get that the fundamental concept and premise of ObamaCare is flawed for you do NOT cause the cancellation of millions of policies people were happy with just to insure the 'sponges' who get free medical care anyway by just walking into any emergency room in this country.

And with the crucial upcoming sign-up deadline fast approaching and Americans justifiably nervous and out for blood, Obama tried to deflect further criticism off of ObamaCare. But he should have continued on with ObamaCare because then thrown in his face was the harsh reality that 2013 was the worst year of his presidency...something Mr. Narcissist will NEVER admit. With his job approval rating at 42.5%/disapprove at 53.6%...with the direction he's taking the country rating at right direction 29.5%/wrong direction at 63.6%...these reflect numbers much lower than George W. Bush's were at this time in his presidency.

Guess that makes it official...Barack HUSSEIN Obama can NO longer blame GWB for all our country's woes...Merry Christmas Obama...what a so deserved happy little lump of coal in your stocking.

And with that Obama switched topics yet again...this time to the NSA spying scandal. Saying there was NO evidence that the programs in question were “abused,” and adding "I have confidence that the NSA is not investigating in domestic surveillance or snooping around," Obama remains totally clueless to the realities around him, for why then did he quickly add that it's “important” to rebuild public confidence in the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

All more Obama empty rhetoric because just last week his own presidential advisory panel obviously agreed with 'We the People' as they recommended sweeping changes to government surveillance, including limiting the 'bulk collection' of Americans' phone records by stripping the NSA of its ability to store the data in its own facilities.

So as he, Michelle, and the kids slink off to Hawaii....waving bye-bye to all the mess of his own doing...let's hope and pray that new surprises do NOT pop-up during this Christmas week for Barack HUSSEIN Obama has given 'We the People' enough so NOT happy presents to last us a lifetime.

Op-ed:                                                                                         Numbers NOT to make anyone happy

By: Diane Sori

 

Yesterday the newest jobs numbers were released and these less than stellar numbers are NOT good...NOT good at all NO matter how Obama and his minions try to twist the numbers...numbers which showed only a disappointing 88,000 jobs being created in March, fewer than half of what economists had forecast and the lowest since last June. With February showing 268,000 jobs created these March numbers show one hell of a drop and signal what many of us have know all along...there is NO true economic recovery going on under this president's misguided economic policies.

Being this is the third spring in a row in which employers slowed down on hiring, even if you take into consideration seasonal factors, this is an in your face hiring slowdown that possibly could continue for months, lasting right up to the usual job slowdown of the summer months. And while the unemployment rate technically did drop to 7.6% from 7.7% that's NO reason to celebrate, because 496,000 Americans simply dropped out of the labor force completely by simply stopping working, stopping looking for work, or NOT receiving any more unemployment benefits. And these factors drove the percentage of Americans in the workforce down from 65.5% to 65.3%...the lowest since 1979...the Jimmy Carter years.

Economists had hoped that 190,000 jobs would be created in March but they weren't. Bottom line...the newest numbers are bad, very bad. And before the msm starts trying to tie yesterday’s dismal report to the sequester spending cuts that went into effect on March 1st, it’s important to remember that the federal government added 9,000 new jobs, post-sequestration....meaning government bureaucracy grew while the private sector again limped along contrary to Obama's bloviations to the contrary.

The reality is that even while the unemployment rate declined those NOT in the labor force grew by over 660,000, with the total civilian non-institutional population growing by just 167,000 to 244,995, meaning the actual labor force declined by 496,000. In fact, a 4% difference between the reported unemployment rate of 7.6%, and what the real unemployment rate is, assuming normal growth of the labor force, which in March was 11.6%, this shows that the economy has NOT improved even by one iota since 2009.
 

And here's even more NOT happy news...the number of people on long-term unemployment (those out of work for at least 27 weeks) in March was about 4.6 million or roughly 39.6% of total unemployment numbers, while part time employment (those working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job) fell by 350,000 in March to 7.6 million because NO new full-time jobs were available...still too high to signal any kind of economic recovery.

And while a temporary lull in the job market had been expected because of both the sequester and the January 1st payroll tax increase, yesterday's disappointing jobs report does red flag new concerns about the strength of Obama's so-called economic recovery, especially since over the past 12 months hiring had averaged 169,000 new jobs per month NOT like March's miserly 88,000 jobs created.

Now also called into question given how strongly stocks have recently rallied is whether all this has been smoke and mirrors to hide an emerging total economic collapse.

So while Obama and those in his orbit blame the sequester for the newest disappointing jobs numbers, some economists on Obama' team warn that 750,000 fewer jobs will be created because of it. But it's Obama's economic policies themselves that continue to make it harder for Americans to find work, proven by the fact that last month the number of Americans filing jobless claims rose by 28,000 to a four-month high of 385,000.

And the root cause of all these unhappy numbers could very well be none other than ObamaCare itself as both small and large businesses cannot afford to hire more workers because they cannot afford the Obama mandated employee coverage. So a vicious circle has been created of NO jobs, NO prospects, and NO money for the American worker...but the 'sponges' of our society remain happy as NO matter how bad the numbers look for the American labor force the free phones, food stamps, and free medical care at our taxpayer expense will always be had.